Posted on 09/19/2020 6:51:29 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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The 10 day forecast is 15 days (yes, I know that’s not 10 days) of mid 80s to high 70s.
Maybe I’m golden?
As a parent I learned to ALWAYS look in the oven before firing it up.
(”firing”, see what I did there?)
Hmmmmm, now that’s an idea...
I had really good success growing Park’s Whopper Improved a couple of years ago - the ‘regular’ Park’s Whopper, not so much. I bought some small “PW Improved” plants at the local hardware store.
Best tomato tip I’ve ever gotten - using dried milk to prevent blossom end rot. The calcium in the dried milk is easily taken up by the tomatoes. I mix 2 or 3 tablespoons in the dirt I get out of the hole I’m digging for the tomatoes, then put it back in around the plant. A cousin of mine top dresses his tomatoes with it & waters it in. He’s the one who told me about the dried milk - an old farmer at the country store told him that was his secret to beautiful tomatoes. It’s worked well for my cousin & also for me.
I would do a search and find some videos to watch on growing tomatoes.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=easy+ways+to+grow+tomatoes
From there, decide what you want to DO with your tomatoes - just slice and eat them? Do some canning? Do you want to dry them? Make Salsa? And choose varieties from there.
(We can help you with that - we all have our favorites!)
Pro Tip? Unless you are feeding an army, ONE cherry-type tomato plant is MORE than enough, LOL!
I usually plant two; a red and a yellow, because Beau will eat them by the handful all day long, and twice on Sundays, but I don’t care for them all that much, other than as a salad topping.
I would also recommend getting a copy of ‘Square Foot Gardening’ by Mel Bartholomew. It’s a great system for growing anything, and you can expand it as needed to larger growing beds.
Also, ‘The Month By Month Gardening Series’ of books, based upon your state, are just excellent for beginning gardeners. They tell you what to do when, based upon where you live/garden. Highly recommended.
I’ve been ‘in the biz’ for 20 years and I still read gardening books in the winter months - they keep me sane, and I always find something new to try. Start slow and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. There is a ‘learning curve’ so once you’ve mastered one part of it, move on to the next thing that interests you. I can’t recommend a better ‘hobby’ than growing food and flowers. :)
It has been a rather disappointing gardening season here. Our tomatoes got root rot because of hubby’s nifty auto watering system. :( We got some tomatoes, but not nearly what we should have. Our three pepper plants produced only 3 green peppers! Worst yield we ever had. We harvested three eggplants from one plant. Got enough green beans for a few meals, but they did not keep producing long. Our three cucumber plants did a good job. Sunflowers are blooming like crazy, so we might get a good amount of seeds later.
It might be time next spring to me to take over the fertilizing and watering duties. The last two years we split the duties where I found the plants, then he did all the planting and tending, then I put up the products of his labor.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write all that out for me, DW! It looks like it’s going to be very helpful, just what I needed.
Looking at the books now.
At the worst, you should have ripe tomatoes come February, LOL!
Thanks!
The tip about dried milk is amazing. I would never have dreamed it up in a million years.
Bookmarking.
You’re Welcome! That’s what we’re here for! We want to encourage new gardeners as much as possible.
The worst you can do is to try to tackle it all at once. Slow and steady; build your skill set.
See my tag line for a reminder when needed! :)
Here are some links about using milk on tomatoes. Milk is also a decent fungicide, although I’ve never used it in that way.
How to Use Powdered Milk to End Blossom Rot
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-powdered-milk-end-blossom-rot-71917.html
Milk and Tomato Growing
https://harvesttotable.com/milk_and_tomato_growing/
Mine started turning 2 weeks ago here in the pacofic northwest.... when the nights started to dip to low 60s high 50s (58-59) the San Marzanos began to ripen.
I think it is related.
This is my 1st time geowing them. My heirlooms have been ripening previous to the cool night time temps...in the 70s.
The local garden show said to take a shovel to them, cut the roots 6” or so from the vines to stress ‘em, failing that dig ‘em up shake the dirt off the roots and hang them upside down in the garage.
I think I’ll give it a couple weeks of cooler weather before I do anything like that!
Some gardening years are Diamonds, some years are Stones!
My garden didn’t perform as bountifully as she usually does, but I was experimenting with Determinate tomatoes this season that had little to NO disease qualities to them. *Rolleyes* I already bought seed for my ‘tried and true’ varieties for next year.
Oh, I got some salsa made and some tomato jam, but that was about it.
Now NEXT season...LOL!
Last year I purchased an heirloom tomato from QFC (grocery store) and harvested seeds from it.
Just like the heirloom I bought at the farmer’s market in Lake Chelan...I neglected to write down or memorize the type I heirloom tomato.
I planted seeds from both this year.
The chelan heirlooms are delicious and have the interesting shapes you think of when someone says “heirloom tomato”.
The QFC heirloom is delicious. Very delicious! I wish I knew the variety.
When ripe it is a pinkish color...like a pink wine. Super super sweet...medium sized tomato. The wals between the seed pockets is thick enough that when you slice it, the seeds don’t slough out which is great for snacking or in sandwiches.
And they grow in big groups of 6-10 tomatoes all crowded together on the plant.
One downside is the squirrels love to come chew on them when they are almost ripe. I cthought it was field mice but I caught the little devil doing the deed yesterday.
I may have to put out some food for the squirrels to keep em out of my tomatoes.
Any tomato that has been nibbled on I just cut off that part and eat the other half or if too much gnawing has occurred I harvest the seeds. Btw....the seeds themselves are large compared to most other tomato seeds.
These plants are the ones who I had issues with either sun scald or similar. A lot of leaves turned milky white and many stalks were light green with white lines running lengthwise down the branches from. Stalk to branch
One of our own Freepers, AuntyB, has lost her home and everything else in one of the fires in Oregon.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3883218/posts?page=51
Please help with a donation, if you can:
Billie Nix
PO Box 1074
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Sorry! ‘ AuntB’
...and maybe we'll do in a squirrel or two,
when we're poisoning pigeons in the park. ~ Tom Leherer
Oh lord that is horrible.
Where are you located and what are younusing the hops for...home brew possibly?
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